Canadian Jrs.
A few notes from last nights game...
Couturier definitely looked like he belonged. A great opening night performance.
Leblanc looked amazing - I would say one of the most dangerous players all night, and sniped a nice goal, top corner.
Kassian was dominant in puck possession and showed more skill than I expected.
Schwartz oozes with talent, but looks smaller than the 5'10" listed.
Gudbransson has a rocket from the point.
Other than Ellis, the D did not look that comfortable handling the puck, nor the flashiest of skaters. Barrie and De Haan did try to create in the offensive zone.
Connolly seemed to be rotating in and out of the 13th forward role and didn't get the ice time I expected from a guy who was said to be as good as Hall and Seguin but just got injured. He does seem to have a nice two-way game however.
Ashton had one impressive powerful rush for a goal but otherwise didn't impress.
Goalie Visentin had a quiet night but I thought was excellent as he came up with stops off of good chances after minutes of no action. He looked very confident and had good rebound control for the most part. I only noticed one moment of lapse of concentration.
Thanks for the lowdown. Watched the highlights, looked pretty good. Obviously the game changes once the real tournament gets underway but it's nice to see us manhandle the Swiss. They are one of those teams we should dominate but I've noticed we haven't in the past few years at really any international event. That's a testament to how far Switzerland has come as a hockey nation but still they are a team that should never be in the game against us.
Leblanc looks like he needs to pack on some pounds big time.
Aston Carter could have a VERY good tournament. He has some experience at the NHL level and knows how to play against bigger opponents as he's a large kid. I wouldn't be surprised if this is his breakout tourney.
Puck possession will be key for Canada with all of these larger kids on the squad
Watched the CAN-SWE game last night. Two players that really stood out as the best on the ice were Brayden Schenn for Canada and Tim Erixon from Sweden. Schenn was really physical and always driving the net, while Erixon was just solid - with and without the puck - always in position and making smart passes and reads on play.
Landeskog and Couturier both looked very good. Landeskog was a ball of energy at both ends of the ice and didn't shy away from physical play with bigger players. Couturier is big and looks so calm with the puck - reminds me a lot of Joe Thornton.
It looks like Nashville found another late round steal with Cehlin in the 5th round, he generated quite a few scoring chances for Sweden.
Leblanc and Schwarz both look talented, but could use some more strength. I think the Americans will really push those 2 around. I don't like Schwarz on the point of the 1PP either. I'd much rather have Tyson Barrie there (but I think he shoots the same hand as Ellis). De Haan looked terrible for a returnee, and Brett Connolly looked lost playing the wing - not sure if he's a natural C on his Jr team, but he looked much better in the couple of shifts they had him at center.
One player Ithink is going to get better and better as the tournament goes on is Ryan Johansen - not flashy, but he's big and plays a smart game.
Adam Larsson was solid, but unimpressive. He had a few strong shifts early, but as the game wore on and Sweden was in need of some more offense from their back end, he faded.
20 Team Pool Points Keeper
G =1,A=1,PPG=1,PPA=0.5, SHG=1,GWG=1,PIM=0.1,+/-=0.25
Goalie cats (W=2, SO=3, SV=0.05)
F: Malkin, B.Richards, Franzen, D.Brown, Boedker, Zajac, Atkinson, Scheifele, Read, Boyes
D: Green, Schultz, Faulk, Goligoski
G: Crawford
Have to agree with slufoots analysus since I said a lot of the same things in the world jr chat thread last night. I didnt
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Originally Posted by dean youngblood
